Stories of Ansalon from the view of Tayraen.

Astinus says 'Enter the main library here to view only the author list.'
Astinus gently places a worn folio on the table in front of you.
You note the spine bears the word 'Tayraen' scribed in dull black ink.

Author: Tayraen
Date Tue Oct 7 01:29:47 2003
Subject The Beginning Part 1
"Hey Ratboy how about you go back under the rock you crawled out from"
It always started like this I guess I just never learned when to keep my mouth
shut.
"Gerald how about you stick that head of yours up the butt of a mino so you
can taste real power"
I should of known better Gerald was the bully on the street where I lived, I
didn't have a family as my father was a drunk and had died long ago my mother
came down with the wasting sickness and died when I was very young. Gerald on
the other hand had a bully of a father who worked on the docks. Gerald learned
from his father to never pick a fight he could not win so he took great
delight in picking on me. I was small and not very lithe on my feet, I did not
suit the local wrangler who would use kids to steal from the people in the
marketplace. My home was a small corner in an alley where the offal from a
butcher would run out from the side of the building and into the drain. No one
would sleep near there so I was never challenged.
"You will pay for that you little motherless whore..."
With that I received my weekly beating.....
This is how life was for me right up until I turned sixteen years of age. It
was during my weekly beatings that something changed within me. I stopped
feeling Gerald's fist hitting me and a calm came over me. I looked at Gerald
and his face turned black like the night. His clothes turned black also he
became a darkness where light was all around. I remember muttering something
but I am still not sure exactly what I said. But Gerald's face changed from
one of anger to pure fright. He grabbed his face and fell backwards away from
me. I thought it was me moaning for sound seemed dull for some reason but I
realised Gerald was screaming. He clawed at himself beating his face with his
hands and fingers.
A man came running fearing murder was being done, a local keeper of the peace
saw Gerald and myself. He leaned over the boy and it was then that Gerald
stopped screaming and kicking about he seemed to almost turn to stone. Looking
like a statue if sorts. The patrolman grabbed me and I did not resist.
Dragging me along the street towards the town jail. I was not quite sure all
the time what was going on. I know Gerald was not alright but the patrolman
didn't seem to care.
I was thrown into a cell, left there to wait. Time past I can't say how long
but two men came and dragged me into another room where a nobleman well
atleast he looked like one with his flowing clothes made of fine silk. He
asked me what I had done to the boy and I told him nothing.
"But my boy you have killed him now tell me what you used? Poison?"
"I did nothing of the sort Sir"
The man looked at me with a troubled expression on his face and waved to the
two men to take me away. I spent the night in the cell and come morning I was
taken before the man again but this time there was another man standing next
to him this man wore robes of Crimson red. Cut with symbols I had never seen
before. He radiated a kind of glow and I could tell this was a man of power of
sorts. He said a couple of words to the man and then stepped past the desk
towards me he placed a hand apon my head and said some strange words. A smile
crossed his face and he walked back to the nobleman.
--------- To be Continued -------
Author: Tayraen
Date Tue Oct 7 01:31:32 2003
Subject The Beginning Part 2 (The Conclusion)
"He has power this one and not all of it good, I don't think he knows exactly
what or how he has done this. Power like this can come natural or be trained
with many years of study. This boy used a powerful spell on that other boy and
without the spell componants that the spell usually requires. I think I should
take this boy, tell the other ones father that you had the boy executed for
this crime for this one is now dead to the world."
With that I was given over to the man in the Red robes I followed him out of
the jail and down the street. He explained to me that I was to leave this life
behind for I had entered into a service of the three orders of wizards. He
also told me my name was no more and from now on I would be called Tayraen.
While walking he opened a small pouch on his belt and took something into his
hand. Speaking some words he threw what he had in his hand in the air. A
swirling black mass appeared before me and the man ushered me through. Just as
I was entering he said:
"I am High Archmage Khyldes Deront'hla, Welcome to the Conclave of Wizards
Tayraen"
With that the world went BLACK!
Author: Tayraen
Date Thu Oct 23 02:08:01 2003
Subject The Rage of Death
'Pay a visit to your homelands and seek out Gerald's father. Teach him the
ways of the Black Robes'
Those were the words spoken to me before I left the great Tower of Wayreth to
head back to the city I grew up in. I was no longer a child but a man I was
not either. It has been one short year since I was taken into the Tower of
Sorcery to learn the art of magic. Taken into the Order of the Black Robes and
shown where the power lies. Now sent back to the place I came from to face
down the man who's son I killed by my magic that lay dorment within me.
'Teach him the ways of the Black Robes'
That is what I was instructed as part of my becoming something more within the
Conclave. But what would I do, use the dagger I had been given to train with
to spill his blood. Or perhaps one of the spells I had been learning. I had
remembered to bring the ingredients needed to cast that which I had already
learned. Or maybe my shear presence would be enough to drive him mad. Either
way I was set on the path I had been instructed to take.
Using a device I was given by one of the mages I was quickly taken to a safe
house used by the Conclave to journey to the city I called home once. I left
the building via the backdoor so as to attempt to attract as little attention
as possible as I am unsure if I still have a price to pay for the death of
Gerald.
Knowing his father worked at the docks and the hour not being that late I
headed down to the docks past the old church long burned out and never
restored.
Walking by the quayside I headed towards the only tavern where most of the
dock workers would now be drinking.
As I approached the door flew open and two burly men dragged a third between
them. Another man behind yelled out
'Get out of here Mac you know your not allowed back for a month'
'Scre..w.. Yoou... '
Was all the man could muster for he had the look of a man already drunk by the
time hit mid-morning. Turning he walked past me and I recognised him straight
away. Mac was Gerald's father a burly man past 6 feet tall with arms big
enough to cave a mans skull. But he looked to have seen better days, his eyes
bloodshot and his skin flushed red. He staggered past me and I fell into step
behind him more interested to see where he was going. No point to punish this
man when he could not feel anything.
He walked down the street and kind of stopped and looked around, I made myself
useful by looking into a window. He walked into the side alley and as I
approached the alley the hair on the back of my neck rose. I moved my hands
into two small pockets in the front of my robe where I kept ingredients for a
simple spell that could be used to protect myself. As I rounded the corner Mac
jumped at me. In his hands a piece of wood he must of picked up.
'I'lll be.... tak..in' yours mon...ey...'
I pulled my hands from my pockets and mutter the words beneath my breath like
I had been shown. My hands started to glow red and as he came down his weapon
swinging the fire arupted from my hands leaping the fastly closing distance
between us to scorch the front of his face and clothing. With a cry of pain he
fell at my feet and without thinking I drew my dagger not knowing if he would
stay down for long. Grabbing the top of his hair I wrenched it back so he
could look apon my face.
'Tayraen is my name although I doubt Gerald ever mentioned me. It was I that
killed him over a year ago and now you will go to great him in the afterlife.'
Before he could speak I plunged my dagger into his throat and left the blood
flow from the wound. The think red blood spirted from his neck, pulling the
dagger from the wound it opened even more and he gurgled and spasmed as his
life flowed out of the mortal wound. A smile came across my face as I watched
him die, there was a small pleasure in it taking the life from another. I then
drew the transportation device I used it to return to the Tower of Wayreth.

The Storytellers of Ansalon, The DragonLance MUD

Astinus points to the massive wall of books behind him and bids you to make a selection.